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said, but from the whole Tenor of the following Synod, and of all the late Reports of the Portuguezes concerning that Church: As it does likewife, That all thofe Patriarchs of Babylon, who came to Rome, notwithstanding the great Noise they made in this Part of the World, were mere Impoftors,never owned by the Churches they pretended to be Patriarchs of. Father Simon fpeaking of this in the 93 Page of his Hiftoire Critique, confeffeth their magnifying the Pope's Power as they did, to have been a piece of grofs Flattery, but withal, will have it to have been Pardonable in fuch poor Wretches, who would not otherwife have been fuffered to have approached the Pope, to whom they came into Europe on purpose to make their Court; for, as he observes upon the fame occafion, few or none of the Oriental Prelates ever applied themselves to the Pope, but for the promoting of fome particular Intereft, which was one reafon why the reunions they pretended to make did not last long. But tho' for some time these mock Prelates being fupported by the Pope, made a fhift to keep the face of a Church at Charamet, none of them ever daring to go to Moful, yet after a little time the true Chaldean Prelates obliged them to leave Charamet; from whence they retired to Zeinalback, a yet remoter Place on the borders of Perfia, where from little, in a fhort time, they dwindled to nothing.

The Prelates of Babylon we fee were anciently filed Bishops of Seleucia, a City not far from

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ly affirmed, it is plainly contradicted by the 33d Arabick Canon of the Council of Nice, which tho' not the genuine Canons of that Council, are yet very ancient. The Canon runs thus:

Canon 33. Let the See of Seleucia, which is one of the Eaftern Cities, be honoured likewife, and have the Title of Catholicon, and let the Prelate thereof, ordain Arch-Bishops as the other Patriarchs de, that fo the Eastern Chriftians who live under Heathens, may not be wronged by waiting the Patriarch of Antioch's leifure, or by going to him, but may have a way opened to them to supply their own Neceffities; neither will any injury be done to the Patriarch of Antioch thereby, feeing he has confented to its being thus, upon the Synod's having defired it of him.

From which Canon it is plain, That the Church of Selencia or Babylon was anciently subject to the Patriarch of Antioch, who of all the Patriarchs was their nighest Neighbour. So that if the Chaldean Bishops do own that they derived all their Authority from the Western Fathers, as is pretended they do, they must mean by the Western Fathers, the Bishops of Antioch,

And as to its being faid, That the Chaldean Bifhops do to this day own that they had their Ordinations from the Western Fathers, meaning the Bishops of Rome, the falfhood of that Pretence appears evidently, not only from what has been

said, but from the whole Tenor of the following Synod, and of all the late Reports of the Portuguezes concerning that Church: As it does likewife, That all thofe Patriarchs of Babylon, who came to Rome, notwithstanding the great Noise they made in this Part of the World, were mere Impoftors,never owned by the Churches they pretended to be Patriarchs of. Father Simon fpeaking of this in the 93 Page of his Hiftoire Critique, confeffeth their magnifying the Pope's Power as they did, to have been a piece of grofs Flattery, but withal, will have it to have been Pardonable in fuch poor Wretches, who would not otherwife have been fuffered to have approached the Pope, to whom they came into Europe on purpose to make their Court; for, as he observes upon the fame occafion, few or none of the Oriental Prelates ever applied themselves to the Pope, but for the promoting of fome particular Intereft, which was one reafon why the reunions they pretended to make did not laft long. But tho' for some time these mock Prelates being fupported by the Pope, made a fhift to keep the face of a Church at Charamet, none of them ever daring to go to Moful, yet after a little time the true Chaldean Prelates obliged them to leave Charamet; from whence they retired to Zeinalback, a yet remoter Place on the borders of Perfia, where from little, in a fhort time, they dwindled to nothing.

The Prelates of Babylon we fee were anciently ftiled Bishops of Selencia, a City not far from

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Ctesiphon from whence it was that Simon, who fuffered Martyrdom under Sapor is ftiled Bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, of which City we meet with this following Account in Strabo. Babylon was anciently the Metropolis of Affyria, which now Seleucia of Tigris is, near to which is a great Village called Ctesiphon, where the Kings of Parthia ufed to Spend the Winter to fpare Seleucia, that it might not be continually oppreffed with Soldiers and Scythians: but notwithstanding this Change of the Metropolis, as the Country all about is still called Babylon, fo the Natives, tho' Born in the very City of Seleucia, are ftill called Babylonians from the Region, and not Seleucians.

In the Bibliotheca Patrum, there is a Treatife of Paradife tranflated out of Syriack into Latine, by Mafius, writ by one Mofes Bar Cepha, who is ftiled Bishop in Bethraman and Bethleno, and Curator of the Ecclefiaftical Affairs of the Mozul or Selencia Parthorum. This Mofes flourished in the Tenth Century.

But it is time to leave these Sham Prelates, who run so fast to Rome of their own accord, and return to the true ones, who were forc'd to go thither much against their Wills.

After the Chriftians of the Serra had heard of their Arch-Bishop's being fent a Prifoner to Por tugal, defpairing of ever feeing him again, they fent fecretly to Mar Simeon, Patriarch of Babylon, defiring him to order them a new Arch-Bifhop, who ftraightways fent them one Mar Abraham, who having gotten into the Serra in a dif

guife, notwithstanding the great care the Portuguezes had taken to have intercepted him, he was received by the whole Church as their Bifhop, with great joy. But he had not been long there, before he had the news of Mar Jofeph's being returned to Goa, where having prefented the Letters he had brought along with him, he was permitted to go back to his Bishoprick.

The Arch-Bishop of Goa who had writ to Portugal, that they fhould by no means ever fuffer Mar Jofeph to return to the Indies, was not without ftrong jealoufies of his having prevaricated in all that he had promifed; and what did very much confirm him therein, was, that Mar JoSeph when he defired him to take fome Friars along with him to preach the Roman Doctrines in his Bishoprick, did not only deny to do it, but furthermore pretended, that it was reveal'd to him the Night before, that it was no ways convenient. The Arch-Bishop being netled at this pretence, told him with great hear, That he had better Revelation from the Scriptures of his not being the Paftor whom God would have to feed his Sheep, but a Wolf in Sheep's cloathing, of whom our Saviour had faid, That they were to be known by their Fruits, and that their Highneffes would quickly be fenfible how much they had been impofed upon by him.

Notwithstanding all this, he was permitted to go to his Bishoprick, tho' for no other reafon, its like, but to give birth to a Schifin, by which means the Portuguezes hoped to be able to com→

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